This is the time of year, Ratner said, for NBA teams and their fans to “have faith in youth and hope … and energy.”

But it’s also the time to bank on mid-level exceptions and unrestricted free agents and hopefully under- bidding by rivals.

So while the Nets introduced their trio grand from draft night, words such as “rebuilding” (Ratner’s term) and “re-tooling” (team president Rod Thorn’s preferred label) floated at the East Rutherford facility because the NBA’s free-agency period officially starts today.

The Nets vow to be aggressive market players but with their draft picks, plus the acquisition of 7-footer Yi Jianlian and small forward Bobby Simmons for Richard Jefferson, some of the glaring holes have been addressed, though not necessarily answered.

Ratner would like them answered. Amid all the speculation that the Nets are eyeing the summer of 2010 – LeBron James’ free-agent summer – Ratner insisted the mandate is to compete now.

“Our plan is to put ourselves in the best position all the time [and] ’10-11 is a year when there are a lot of free agents, and we want to be in a position where if one comes our way we’re able to do that,” Ratner said.

“We’re certainly hopeful that all of them will be able to be contributing players,” Thorn said of the draftees, before assessing the current reality.

“We need another shooter, may need another wing player. … We still have some holes.”

While the Jefferson trade assures cap flexibility down the road, the Nets would need to clear a roster spot to add any free agent other than their own.

“We may make some trades,” Thorn said. “We’re in a pretty good spot with the cap, so we’ll look at various avenues. We may not end up with all the guys we have.

Said GM Kiki Vandeweghe: “The first thing we’re going to explore is keeping our own free agents before we are talking to other people.”

Both Nachbar and Krstic have proclaimed a desire to stay in New Jersey. But the desire has to be mutual.

“We’re anxious to hear what the Nets have to say,” said Marc Cornstein, who represents both players. “Both really appreciate what the Nets have done for them … and in a perfect world, that’s where they’d remain.”

But yesterday was a day for the Nets to celebrate their draft harvest of three guys, all of whom they truly felt would go higher than where the Nets picked them: Lopez (10), Anderson (21), Douglas-Roberts (40).

And the Memphis player, schooled in college by former Net coach John Calipari (“All Cal wants to talk about when he’s talking about the Nets is how he got fired,” he said) admits a “big chip” on his shoulder about falling to 40.